Tzeltal (Mayan) Phonemes

TZELTAL (MAYAN) PHONEMES

Florence Gerdel

1. Description of phonemes

2. Syllable patterns

3. Distribution of phonemes

1. The oxchuc dialect of Tzeltal has 25 segmental phonemes. There are

1. Tzeltal is a Mayan language spoken in Chiapas, Mexico. Although the
phonemic system was analyzed by the late William Bentley during field trips
to the Bachajon dialect between 1938 and 1941, the results were never pub-
lished. This paper, which has followed leads offered by his materials and
those of my colleague Marianna C. Slocum, is based on the highland dialect
spoken in the region of Oxchuc. For certain differences between Oxchuc
dialect and others, see fn. 2 below. According to the 1940 census, there are
about 4,000 speakers of this dialect. An earlier draft of this paper was
presented in connection with one of the courses at the Summer Institute of
Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma in 1949. For a discussion of the
major part of the morphology, see Marianna C. Slocum, Tzeltal (Mayan) Noun
and Verb Morphology, UAL 14.77-86 (1948). ^

20 consonants /p p> m w t t' n 1 c c' s r c c' S y k k» h ?/ and 5 vowels
/i e a o u/.

1.1. Consonants are divided into five groups; members of each group are in
general alike in point of articulation. Groups II and III, which are similar
in point of articulation, differ as to their manner of articulation and their
distribution in consonant clusters. The five horizontal groups are listed as
follows:

Group I (bilabial): p p' m w

Group II (alveolar): t t' n 1

Group III (alveolar): c c' s r

Group IV (alveo-palatal) : c c» § y

Group V (posterior): k k' h ?

The consonants of each of the five groups are classified vertically into four
series: voiceless aspirated, voiceless glottalized, voiced nasal or voiceless
fricative, and a fourth series which includes orals, liquids, and glottal stop.

back, /p^/ is clas-
lophones : C p'J before

In group I,/p/is a voiceless aspirated stop Cp J: pat
sified as a voiceless glottalized stop ; it has three all

2. The allophone CpO is chosen to represent this phoneme since it completes
the voiceless glottalized series, whereas the allophone Cbl if chosen as a
norm, would be the sole constituent of a voiced series and the voiceless glot-
talized series would be incomplete. In other dialects of Tzeltal, the char-
acteristic Mayan pattern of asymmetry is seen; that is, in addition to full
voiceless aspirated and voiceless glottalized series, there is one voiced stop
phoneme, /b/ In the Oxchuc dialect, this stop has apparently fallen together
with the voiceless bilabial glottalized stop/pf, as they are found in mutually

exclusive positions; [pvl occurs only utterance finally, £b] elsewhere: lap'ap'
tla?bap>] 'sticky' (Oxchuc) = lap'ap' Llap'ap'] 'sticky' (Bachajon), p'alas
LbalaS] 'bark' (Oxchuc) = p'alas Lp'alas] 'bark' (Tene japa) ; ya sp'ihtes
[ya sp*ihtesJ 'he teaches' (Oxchuc) = ya sp^ihtes Cya sp'ihtesj 'he teaches'
(Tene japa). For discussion of other Mayan languages, see Nadine Weathers,
Tsotsil Phonemes with Special Reference to Allophones of B, UAL 13.108-111
(1947); Julia Supple and Celia Douglass, Tojolobal (Mayan) Phonemes and Verb
Morphology, UAL 15.168-74 (1949); Raymond S. Larsen and Eunice V. Pike,
Huasteco Intonations and Phonemes, Language 25«268-77 (1949).

silence (sap' 'early'); C?b] between vowels (cop'ol Lt5"o?bol] 'many');
[b} in other positions (p>e Lbe] 'road', pokp'il Lp ok bil] 'washed').

/m/ is a voiced nasal: me? 'mother', /w/ is a voiced non-nasal; it has
two allophones: C^3 (flat fricative) in word final and as first member of a
CC cluster (Xiw [sip] 'he feared', ?awlil C?ap>lil] 'seed'); LwJ (non-syllabic
vocoid) in other positions (siwon 'I feared'). LwJ occurs in free fluctuation
with LpJ in word initial (wis [wiSJ'^ Cp>i§3 'older sister').

Groups II and III are both alveolar. The first three members of each group
show vertical sjnnmetries paralleling the members of the other groups. In
addition, all four members of group II have certain distributional features
in common that distinguish them from the members of group III. Specifically,
the consonants of group II appear as second member of more than twice as many
CC clusters as do the consonants of group III. Thus /!/ is included in II
and /r/ in III on the basis of distributional frequency^ and phonetically,

3, Actual count of clusters: Group II: /t/ 18, /t'/ 7, /n/ 15, /I/ 17,
total, 57; group III: /c/ 7, /c*/ 8, /s/ 7, 1x1 2, total 24. This count
cannot be considered final because of the readiness with which morphemes may

be combined to form new words; but would appear to be indicative of the general
tendency.

also, /I/ belongs with group II in that its articulation is characterized by
unbroken contact of the tongue tip throughout its duration as opposed to /r/
(group III) which is characterized by momentary or broken contact during part
of its production.

In group II, /t/ is a voiceless aspirated stop Ct 3: tat 'father', /t'/
is a voiceless glottalized stop: t>ul 'rabbit', /n/ is a voiced nasal: na
'house'. HI is a voiced lateral: lot 'a lie'.

In group III, /c/ is a voiceless aspirated affricate: coc 'blanket',
/c'/ is a voiceless glottalized affricate: soc» 'bat', /s/ is a voiceless
sibilant: sik 'cold', /r/ is a voiced flap: kerem 'boy'^.

4. /r/ occurs infrequently in words of native origin, mainly in descriptive
words such as st>araret 'whirring of wings (humming bird). But note also
curk'up' 'ripened by sun', kukureS 'cucayo (bird)', moro6 'curly', spara2
?ek' 'morning-star', wotoros 'mint', serai 'scar', Sharet 'sound of snoring',
s?iriret 'droning sound (airplane)', t»art»on 'fluttering of wings', kurik
'let's go', p^urum 'speckled'. It occurs more commonly in Spanish loan words .

In group IV, /?/ is a voiceless aspirated affricate: cin 'a sore'. /2»/
is a voiceless glottalized affricate: c'^in 'small', /s/ is a voiceless
sibilant: Sik 'hawk', /y/ is a voiced non-syllabic vocoid: yan 'another'.

In group V, /k/ is a voiceless aspirated stop LVrl: sak * white'. /k» / is
a voiceless glottalized stop: sak' 'it itches*, /h/ is a glottal spirant:
hul 'he arrived'. /?/ is a glottal stop: ?ul 'corn gruel'.

1.2. There are five vowel phonemes, all voiced. Front vowels are unrounded;
back vowels are rounded, /i/ is high front, varying freely between close Li3
and open Cii in some words, and occurring as open C^2 before syllable final

/S/ and in a few other situations5: pim 'thick', yiStap> 'his toy', /e/ is

5. While a clear-cut statement of complementary distribution is somewhat
difficult to make, an analysis as separate phonemes seems considerably more
difficult. In addition, native reaction, in terms of large numbers of native
readers who pronounce Ci3 or Lcl unhesitatingly in the appropriate context,
though both are written i^ would indicate that these are a single phoneme,

mid open front Cel: S>en 'cave', /a/ is low open, varying freely from un-
rounded central La3 to rounded back C^l: tah 'pine', ha? 'water', /o/ is
mid close back: pom 'incense', /u/ is high close back: hun 'paper'.

1.3. One member of the Spanish phonemic system coexists with this phonemic
system^. This is the voiced alveolar stop /d/ which occurs only in Spanish

6. For this type of analysis for other languages, see Charles C. Fries and
Kenneth L. Pike, Coexistent Phonemic Systems, Language 25.25-50 (1949).

loan words and is found in the speech of some bilinguals (who for the most
part are only partically bilingual). In the speech of monolinguals and some
bilinguals, Spanish /d/ is borrowed as /t 1 r k/ and in one instance as /y/.
The general pattern is /d/ -• /t/ after another consonant (candela -♦ kantela
'candle'); /d/ -♦ /I/ word finally (almud -^ almul 'basket'); /d/ -* /r/ between
vowels (cadena -* karena 'chain'). Before /r/, /d/ may be completely lost
(compadre -♦ kumpare 'co-godfather') or may become /k/ (Pedro -► Pekro 'Peter').
Word initially, /d/ -► /I r/, or may be lost (doctor -» loktor 'doctor',
domingo -» rominko 'Sunday', dios -4 yos 'god').

1.4. Stress in Tzeltal may best be described in terms of stress groups,
A stress group is a stretch of speech of two or more syllables with a unify-
ing stress on the final syllable (indicated in this paper by acute accent over
the vowel); and, in stress groups of more than two syllables, a secondary
stress on the first or second syllable (indicated in this paper by grave
accent over the vowel). Stressed syllables are normally higher in pitch than
unstressed syllables.

In most cases, the stress group is synon3mious with a pause group, defined
as a stretch of speech between pauses. Since there are cases in which a
stretch of speech may contain more than one stress group, though no actual
pause is perceptible, it has seemed wise to describe the system in terms of
stress groups rather than pause groups.

Stress groups of two syllables have the stress on the final syllable.
This is called pattern I: patll 'later', talon 'I came", pasp'll 'made'.

Stress groups of three syllables have primary stress on the final syllable
and a secondary stress on the initial syllable^. This is called pattern II:

~. Two words which do not always follow this pattern are: ?ilimp'a 'anger'
and lok'omp'a 'picture'. Also, in words of Spanish origin, the Spanish stress

pattern predominates in that Spanish words with penultimate stress normally
do not shift stress. The native pattern has been heard on a few occasions:
pesu ^ pesu 'peso' , semana ^ semana 'week*, limeta ^ limeta 'bottle'.

ma?yuk yan 'there is no other', yas talon 'I am coming', ?ic»a tel 'bring
it'.

Stress groups of more than three syllables may have the secondary stress
on the second syllable, if the first syllable is innately unstressed^. This

8. These include: ya (tense-aspect particle), a- (personal pronoun) to
(definite article). ,_-.^_,-...-_

is called pattern III: ya sna?at te hmeT6 'my mother remembers you',
awiiyoh stohcil 'you have heard', te tak*ine 'the money'. Other stress
groups of more than three syllables follow pattern II: ha?to ta patil yas
talrfn 'I am not coming until later', we?emat p>al i§? "have you eaten
already?"

In stress groups indicating surprise, the regular stress patterns occur
with more emphatic stress and with added length on the stressed syllables:
hic kati 'that's sol', ?upa 'ouch.".

For special emphasis, pattern IV is used, which is a reversal of the
regularl stress patterns, with the primary stress occurring on the initial
syllable: hic kati 'that's so.", ?upa *ouchI'.

2. There are nine different syllable patterns which occur in various
positions in words. Types CV anc CVC are most frequent and may appear in
initial, medial, and final position; examples show syllable division marked
by (.).

CV: ne '.tail', p'a.lu.mi.lal 'world', pa.sa 'do it'.

CVC: hic 'thus', hp'ih.tes.wa.neh 'teacher', c'ul.can 'heaven'.

Syllable types V and VC occur in word medial and final positions; V (as
the vowel a) also occurs initially.

V: a.na 'your house*, htu.u.nel 'an official', le.a 'seek it'.

VC: X*u.um.p'il 'believed', mu.em 'kind of herb', co.ol 'squash, ca.el
'little'.

Syllable type CVCC occurs only in word initial position.

CVCC: naht' 'long', ?ahk'.nah 'he groaned'.

Syllable type hCVhC occurs only in monosyllabic words.

hCVhC: hcohp' 'group', hpehc' 'flat thing'.

Syllables beginning with CC or CCC occur only in word initial position:
those with CCC are found only in Spanish loans or forms derived from them .

9. In native words beginning with two consonants and in loan words beginning

with three consonants, the initial consonant is always the bound morpheme
h- (pronominal affix, agentive affix), s- (pronominal affix), or s- (nominal
prefix, verbal affix, adjectivizer) ,

CCV: hni.al 'my son-in-law', sne 'its tail'.

CCVC: skah 'because', htul 'one person', §mal 'maria'.

CCCVC: skrus 'his cross', spwer.sa.il 'its necessity'.
3. Distribution of phonemes.

3.1. Any consonant may occur in consonant position in the syllables CV
and CVC; and any consonant except /r/ in consonant position of VC. Various
examples of these may be found in the preceding paragraphs.

In final CC clusters, the first member is /h/ : k'ahk' 'fire'. The

10. Only one example has been observed in which the first consonant of a
final CC cluster is other than h; ?anc 'woman'.

second member may be any consonant of the voiceless glottalized series :

11. In some other dialects the second member may also be any consonant of
the voiceless aspirated series . >..._^

tahp' 'twenty', piht* 'abandon', pehc 'trap', pahJ?» 'pineapple', kohk> 'deaf.

1 2
In initial CC clusters the first member is /h s §/ in words of native

12. See fn. 9.

origin. The second member after /h/ may be any consonant other than /h/-^^ or

13. Identical consonants are reduced to a single consonant: /h/ plus

hoi -♦ hoi 'my head', /s/ plus sit -♦ sit 'his eye', tat plus tik -♦ tatik 'our

father'. There are certain non-permitted sequences in any position:

s -^ S /_c: ^scikin -> 52ikin 'his ear'; c,S — S/(_c,s: "^^yassikup* J^yassikup'

yasikup> 'becomes cold', ^yascahup' -*- yascahup* 'becomes red', ^yaSc'ahan ->

'bright blue'; n -♦ m/ p»: ^k'atinp'ak -► k>atimp>ak 'hell', ^k'anp'on -♦

k amp* on 'ask for me'.

/r/: hpat 'my back', hp*et 'my debt', hme? 'my mother', htat' my father',
ht'ul 'one drop', hni? 'my nose', hlumal 'my land', hcoc 'my blanket',
he' eel 'my side', hsit 'my eye', htfikin 'my ear', hc'i^'el 'my blood',
h§uhk*up' 'my elbow', hyame? 'my grandmother', hkup' 'my thigh', hk*u? 'my
dress', h?anel 'fugitive'.

The second member after /s/ may be any consonant other than /s ? s/(fc>/ may
be preceded by /s/j: spat 'his back', sp'et 'his debt', sme? 'his mother',
swig 'his sister', stenleh 'flat place', st'im 'his bow', sni? 'his nose',
slumal 'his land', scoc 'his blanket', sc'eel 'his side', srosa 'Rosa'
(Spanish loan), s2'i^>el 'his blood', syame? 'his grandmother', skup' 'his
grandmother', skup' 'his thigh', sk'u? 'his dress', shol 'his head', s?inasa
'Ignacia' (Spanish loan).

TZELTAL (MAYAN) PHONEMES-- E.G. "^^

The second member after /§/ may be any consonant other than /s^^ Sec'/:
SpeSeS 'its nest', sp>itp> on 'pounding', §mo2oh sba 'stuck together', Swohw^
'dog bark', Staluk 'he came', §t'araret 'whirring', Snip»ip»et 'rippling',
Slomlehan 'plodding in mud', SXikin 'his ear', Srominka 'Dominga' (Spanish
loan), &i'u6^ 'frog', Skai 'horsefly', §k'elk'on 'loud crying', Shayhon
'unintelligible speech', S?uman 'road-runner'.

In medial CC clusters any consonant may theoretically occur as first or
second member. However, not all such theoretically possible combinations
have been attested; the following are illustrative: kancil 'my child',
?op'nah 'he coughed', nopcah 'he drew near', iepk^uh 'it dropped', Sap'Son
'handful', c»ip»hel 'writing', ?ilimp'a 'anger', kaw?e 'jaw', tatmut 'rooster',
Satlehal 'valley', pat5uhk» 'neighbor', ^anwinik 'eighty', cincon 'tinkling',
tonkos 'tamale', gan?i2 'ant', 2olp>eya 'explain it to him' , holwic 'summit',
melcah 'it was arranged', Silhom 'chair-bearer', ?awil?ak' 'hammock', ?esmah
'it increased', ?uskum 'herb', kuSlehal 'life', koSkon 'limping', sakwelan '
'light color*, sukleh 'cliff, tek'lan 'stand up', tohlina 'aim it', kehk'eS
'my finger nail', wi?nal 'hunger', me?hun 'aunt'.

Clusters of three consonants are rare and occur only in Spanish loan words.
The third consonant is limited to /r w/: hprental 'my security', spwersail
'its necessity' .

3.3. Any vowel may occur in the vowel position in syllables: yo.^e.p'al
'third' , ?a.t'e. hip' 'tool', yu.ci.lal 'its goodness', ya.loh.p'ey 'he has
told him' .

14
Clusters of any two vowels, identical or otherwise, occur between

14. In clusters of identical vowels, the vowels are rearticulated. In
cognate words in the Bachajdn dialect, the rearticulated vowels have been
observed to be separated by /h/: p'een 'he walked' (Oxchuc) = p*ehen 'he
walked' (Bachaj6n); ciin 'then' (Oxchuc)sc'ihin 'then' (Bacha j6n) ; la
&g>uun 'he believed' (Oxchuc) = la Sg^uhun 'he believed' (Bachajdn).

syllables: ma.il 'squash', ta.el 'coming', ^a.al 'again', mo. an 'go up'.

Vowel clusters also occur in word final position. The second vowel of
such a cluster is limited to /a e/: le.a 'seek it', te be.e 'the road'.

(September^, 1955)

Gerdel, Florence L 1974. "Tzeltal (Mayan) phonemes." SIL Mexico Workpapers 1: 101-6.